Ticketmaster Accused Of Secret Deals With Scalpers

Ticketmaster, the entertainment company, has reportedly been inking behind-the-scenes deals with scalpers at the same time that it publicly decries the practice.

According to a report in CNBC, citing a new report from Canadian media companies The Star and Canadian Broadcast Company, undercover reporters from the two outlets found that the company is secretly forging relationships with scalpers, in violation of its own policies.

Currently, Ticketmaster limits the number of tickets a person can purchase to prevent scalpers from acquiring large amounts that they can turn around and sell for higher prices. According to CNBC, the company has even gone so far as to call for new laws to prevent the practice.

According to the Canadian media outlets, Ticketmaster uses software dubbed Trade Desk that lets resellers buy tickets from the company and then instantly post them to resell. Ticketmaster gets two commissions: one when the ticket is first purchased and another when it is resold, noted the report.

Spokeswoman Catherine Martin told The Star that because of supply and demand, it is necessary for a secondary market to emerge. “As the world’s leading ticketing platform … we believe it is our job to offer a marketplace that provides a safe and fair place for fans to shop, buy and sell tickets in both the primary and secondary markets,” she said.

This is the latest hit for the entertainment company. In June, its U.K. unit was the subject of a data breach that was discovered on June 23. At the time, Ticketmaster U.K. said it identified malicious software on a customer support product hosted by Inbenta Technologies, an external third-party supplier to Ticketmaster. The company said that less than 5 percent of its global customers were affected, and that customers in North America were not impacted.

“As soon as we discovered the malicious software, we disabled the Inbenta product across all Ticketmaster websites,” the company wrote in a post. “As a result of Inbenta’s product running on Ticketmaster International websites, some of our customers’ personal or payment information may have been accessed by an unknown third party.”

The incident may have affected U.K. customers who purchased, or attempted to purchase, tickets between February and June 23, 2018, as well as international customers who purchased, or attempted to purchase, tickets between September 2017 and June 23, 2018.